Red and green have long been the traditional colors of Christmas, thanks in large part, to holly, poinsettias and fir trees. But those colors aren't as vivid, and in some cases, not distinguishable to some of the population.

Red-green is the most common type of of hereditary color-blindness in people, according to the National Eye Institute (NEI) in Bethesda, Maryland.

As many as 8 percent of men and .5 percent of women with Northern European ancestry have this form of color blindness, NEI added.

Dr. Wadih Zein, who has been an ophthalmologist for 14 years, prefers to call these disorders color vision deficits since "patients have varying degrees" of blindness, he told Chron.com.

"Some patients have it so bad that they have difficulties with traffic lights; the colors will look grayish," Zein added.

Red-green color blindness is broadly organized into four types, protanomaly, protanopia, deuteranomaly, and deuteranopia, all of which have to do with how the cones in the eye function. Cones "contain photopigment molecules that undergo a chemical change when they absorb light," according to NEI.

"Simple everyday tasks like cooking meat to the desired color or selecting ripe produce can be a challenge for adults" living with color blindness, NEI said. "Children might find food without bright color as less appetizing. Traffic lights pose challenges, since they have to be read by the position of the light."

Swipe through the gallery above to see if you may suffer from some sort of color blindness.

Fernando Alfonso III is a digital reporter at Chron.com. You can read more of his stories here and follow him on twitter at @fernalfonso. If you also like surreal GIFs and Polaroids, go here and here.